The Yu Aw Synagogue: A Contested Heritage Site in Afghanistan

The consequences of violence and its disruptive effects over the past fifty years have had a profound impact, particularly on heritage sites in Afghanistan. In this paper, we investigate the contested heritage site of the Yu Aw Synagogue in Herat City of Afghanistan. Due to the uncertain future of the synagogue, property disputes, and the coexistence of multiple functions and uses, a conflict situation has emerged. Objective of this paper is to offer new interpretations and illustrate the existing conflict between two religious groups over the acquisition of the Yu Aw Synagogue using the theoretical approaches of conflict and discourse. The study combines qualitative and quantitative data, including fieldwork interviews and analysis of documentary sources. There are a variety of players involved in the decision making of this site, local and international NGOs, government, Jewish community, and individual citizens. This heritage site determines how the complex spectrum of transnational and international religious activities between Islam and other religious traditions is an integral and even constitutive part of the history of the local civil society, and how the determination of intercultural and international negotiations on (religious) self-definition can both mitigate conflicts.